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Joseph A. Gallian, 2007-2008 MAA President

Joseph A. Gallian, a mathematics professor at University of Minnesota Duluth, is known for his efforts to increase public understanding and appreciation of mathematics and for his undergraduate research program.

While MAA-President-elect, Gallian conceived the idea and raised the funds to make the feature-length documentary film about the U.S. International Mathematical Olympiad team, Hard Problems: The Road to the World's Toughest Math Contest. The film premiered at the 2008 Joint Mathematics Meetings and was broadcast more than 2000 times in its first year of syndication on American Public Television. Upcoming airdates are listed here.

Education and Career

Gallian obtained a B.A. from Slippery Rock University in 1966, an M.A. from the University of Kansas in 1968, and a Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame in 1971. After serving as a visiting assistant professor at Notre Dame for one year, he went to theUniversity of Minnesota Duluth, where he is a Morse Alumni Distinguished University Professor of Teaching and Professor of Mathematics.

Since 1977, Gallian has run a summer mathematics research program for undergraduates. More than 160 research papers written by undergraduates under his supervision in the program have been published in professional journals. Now an NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) (the NSF REU program did not exist until 1986), the program has been exceptionally successful and called the gold standard of REUs by colleagues. The current popularity of mathematics REU sites across the United States can be attributed in large part to the success of Gallian's original program.

Gallian has given more than 250 invited lectures at conferences, colleges, and universities and is the author or editor of six books and more than 100 articles. He has given 66 invited talks at MAA section meetings and has spoken at 28 of the 29 MAA sections. He served as chair of the 2003 and 2010 Mathematics Awareness Month committees.

In addition to the usual math courses, he has taught a humanities course called the "The Lives and Music of the Beatles" for more than 25 years and a liberal arts course on math and sports. In 2000, a Duluth newspaper cited him as one of the "100 Great Duluthians of the 20th Century."